By Grant Lawrence

Bodhi Thunder


Nearly every American in a survey chose Sweden's Socialist wealth distribution over America's Capitalist system. Over 90% of Americans when presented Sweden's Socialism chose that system.
Image by craigCloutier via Flickr

More interesting than that, the report says, is that the respondents (a randomly selected 5,522-person sample, reflecting the country's ideological, economic and gender demographics, surveyed in December 2005) believed the top 20 percent should own only 32 percent of the wealth. Respondents with incomes over $100,000 per year had similar answers to those making less than $50,000. (The report has helpful, multi-colored charts.)

The respondents were presented with unlabeled pie charts representing the wealth distributions of the U.S., where the richest 20 percent controlled about 84 percent of wealth, and Sweden, where the top 20 percent only controlled 36 percent of wealth. Without knowing which country they were picking, 92 percent of respondents said they'd rather live in a country with Sweden's wealth distribution.....(america blog)

It is clear Americans don't know what Socialism is. The corporate media has Americans thinking fascism is socialism. But it is clear that Americans could make sound economic judgments on the governing of the economy if they weren't scared into thinking only in a constrained, indoctrinated way.

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Top 5 Myths about Socialism
Posted at Grant Lawrence--Bodhi Thunder

Image by Donna Cymek via Flickr




Socialism is used as a scare word.

But I never understand why people should be afraid of a humane society. Instead people must like to be brutalized and worked as credit serfs for the big banks and the financial power that control this country and much of the world.
Socialism is about a creating a more just society where people can live with dignity. People can be afraid of it, but the fact is that people have largely been able to escape extreme poverty because of such Social programs as Social Security and Medicare.
Grant

Myth #1: Socialists want to take away your property
This myth confuses private property with personal property. When socialists talk about the abolition of private property, they are referring to the socialization of the means of production—the resources and equipment that create wealth. Working people do not own this type of property—which is why we have to work to survive.
Right now, the wealth of the 1,000 billionaires is equal to that of the 3.5 billion poorest people on the planet. In order to provide everyone with more, that wealth must be commonly owned, and not the property of those few capitalists.
Socialists have no interest in taking away one’s home, car or individual items intended for personal use. In reality, as the foreclosure crisis has shown, under capitalism the banks own most of this property as well—and will take it away as they please.
Myth #2: Socialists are against democracy and for a dictatorship
The two-party “democratic” system under capitalism is in fact a dictatorship of the rich. Under it, working people create all the wealth, but capitalists—who own the corporations and banks—have all the economic power and use it to control politics. That fact never changes, even if we have the right to vote. We get to vote on who will oppress us next, while all the important decisions are made in executive boardrooms.
Many of the countries trying to build socialism in the past have not had multi-party democracies—this is true. This is due to their particular histories and the necessity of preventing counter-revolution. Even there, the basic economic gains of socialism were enshrined into law. There is nothing about socialism, however, that requires a single-party system.
Under socialism, society’s vast resources cannot be privately hoarded. They are used and distributed according to a plan that the working class and its organizations decide. Because wealth will not be concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite, it will be possible to have genuine democracy in a political sense as well.
Myth #3: Under socialism, there is no incentive to work
Socialism rewards hard work, while under capitalism the richest people are the ones who do no work at all. In a socialist society, the working class controls the means of production and the fruits of its own labor and therefore has a real stake in the realization of its full capacity to produce. The main incentive to work under capitalism is the threat of being fired and starvation.
Under socialism, a person is paid according to the work they do. Under capitalism, the least productive members of society—the bankers and CEOs—grow obscenely wealthy while working class people live paycheck to paycheck.
Myth #4: Socialism is against human nature
Human “nature” changes depending on the type of society you are living in. Marx explained that the ruling ideas and behaviors of a society are those of its ruling class. We are taught to believe that humans are naturally violent, exploitative and selfish because those are the principles on which our society is built. Looking through human history, including thousands of years of communal, class-less societies, we can see that another “nature” exists. Even in our present society, we can see in our daily lives tremendous examples of shared sacrifice and solidarity—even if those don’t make the evening news.
Myth #5: Socialists don't respect freedom of religion
Socialists consider religion a private matter, and actively fight against discrimination on the basis of religion.
Marx never called for the banning of religion. He pointed out how historically religious institutions have discouraged people from fighting against oppression. They instruct poor and working people to wait instead for a better after-life.
There are many examples, however, of movements that have used religious ideology while struggling for a better world. While many socialists are atheists, the PSL whole-heartedly welcomes people of all faith backgrounds that want to fight to make that world a reality....(source: psr web.org)

MORE Myths on Socialism Here at Party for Socialism and Liberation

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Whats the point of even posting this? You aren't going to convince any of your political opposites, and it only invites pointless, annoying drivel (knock on wood) of a discussion. No offense intended.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

More words from the "have not".

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

Are you feeling a little disenfranchised ?

No hope for a positive change ?

Guess who wants you to feel that way ?

__________________

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Makes sense since about 3% of this country owns 97% of the wealth. Amazing how so many can be screwed over by so few!

Most of the Western European countries have political systems that are operating much more effectively than our own broken 2-party system. Pretty sad.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

You know, if you and Rich just got together for coffee, you both could find out how brilliant you both are without having to deal with all these annoying conflicting points of view.

"Screwed over by so few" - wow. If you're getting so "screwed", then you don't belong in the capitalist system where you have to rely on your brains and risk to get ahead, you could just sit around and do nothing and still get to the middle. Greener pastures await...

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

so.......since to many a mercedes represents a certain 'class' of people, i.e. if you have a mercedes you have ARRIVED, then everyone on this forum should donate their mercedes to someone of lesser economic means. time to spread the wealth, baby!

Amazing what marketing people do. In the old days MB's were synonymous with longevity and reliability. Nowadays they look at you funny if you drive a 30 year old car to the dealership.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Socialism = guarateed mediocrity. That's my final answer.

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Erich Loepke
2010 Ford Focus
Currently Benz-less

"There is nothing so expensive as a cheap Mercedes"....

Pretty cruel trick, would serve to widen the gap

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

I'm sure the cost of repair and upkeep for a mercedes could be debated forever. however, I've run the numbers and I'm always amazed at how little money it costs over the long run to keep a mercedes going. any car will require maintenance costs, so it is inevitable that one will have to pay to operate any of them. there is an old saying:

"There is the price, and then there is the COST". superior German engineering results in a car that was designed to be easily maintained, a good bargain IMHO.

my point earlier is it seems that anytime the subject comes up of "Sticking it to the Rich", the middle class can always be counted for support. the problem is that it takes money to make money. the middle class would be JOBLESS if it weren't for wealthy people investing and starting businesses. if we do away with the wealthy, then we can all count on being BROKE.

Only a knee jerk liberal like you could turn giving a poor man a Mercedes, for free, into a nasty political trick. Next it'll be that the people who work hard, word smart, and take responsibility for their behavior and understand the futurity of individual actions need to coddle those living in the slacker, welfare, section 8 entitlement world because they might be hurt that anyone wants them to lift a finger. Oh wait- you're already asking that.

Half the fun of driving a really old benz (in good condition) is that people don't have any idea what your deal is. It's sorta like wearing ratty clothes with a really expensive watch. Driving a new one is obvious; driving a new low-end benz will just make you look like you're trying to impress someone.

Ok, I'll give you arrivistes my bank account number and the location where you can drop off your W126, W189 and M-100 cars!

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6